2 Nn Inmates Charged In Sexual Assault Of Man

NEWPORT NEWS — Two city jail inmates were charged Friday with sexually assaulting another inmate.

Charles H. Charity, 22, and Andre Huggins, 25, were each charged with sexual penetration with an inanimate object and with assault and battery, said Police Department spokesman Sgt. Mike Brewer.

The victim was not seriously injured in the attack, which occurred in Cell Block 6B about 7 p.m. Thursday, said the jail administrator, Major C.E. "Chuck" Moore of the Sheriff's Department. He said the victim was taken to Newport News General Hospital for treatment and then brought back to the jail.

Moore said he could not recall any other recent incidents of sexual assault involving inmates at the jail.

Moore said Thursday night's alleged incident occurred in the victim's cell, one of seven in the cell block, during a time when the 14 inmates held in that cell block were free to walk around and watch television.

He said guards walk through the cell block about every 30 minutes and that proper procedures were followed Thursday night.

The alleged victim did not call for help and deputies did not know anything was amiss until one of the prisoners who had not been involved in the alleged incident advised them that something was wrong, Moore said.

When deputies questioned the alleged victim, the man declined to talk about it until he was taken from the cell block, Moore said.

One of the alleged assailants, Huggins, was being held on charges of armed robbery, assault and drug distribution last month when he allegedly used burning matches to set off the sprinkler system in a holding cell at the city's new courthouse.

Charity was arrested along with another man last month and charged with burglarizing a city sporting supply store and stealing nine handguns.

Moore said both men were being held in individual cells late Friday, pending the outcome of an investigation into the incident.